1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to object recognition by computers, and more specifically, to pedestrian tracking and detection.
2. Background Art
Computer vision through object recognition is a giant step in computer intelligence that provides a myriad of new capabilities. Recognition of humans has particularly valuable applications in vehicle safety, robot interaction, security surveillance and military operations. In one example, a pedestrian recognition system in a moving vehicle can provide early warnings of a pedestrian crossing the street or even riding a bicycle.
Unfortunately, current pedestrian recognition systems are too cost prohibitive for most widespread applications. The typical system requires two cameras to determine a pedestrian's distance from the vehicle. Additionally, significant processing power is needed to handle frame-by-frame computationally intensive operations in distinguishing pedestrians from background in a video.
Another problem with typical recognition systems is that they require the camera to be stationary. Moving objects can thus be distinguished from non-moving objects as a first cut in human recognition. However, a moving camera, e.g., on a vehicle or robot, a rotatable security camera or a camera in goggles worn by a soldier, do not provide stationary backgrounds.
Still another problem with typical recognition systems is that their pattern matching is based on color gradients, which may be limited in certain conditions such as low lighting.
Therefore, what is needed is a robust method and system of pedestrian detection and tracking for low visibility conditions with a non-stationary background that can be implemented using a single camera and manageable computer processing requirements.